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Victoria University Antarctic Research Expedition Science and Logistics Reports 1982-83: VUWAE 27

Transport:

Transport:

Transport to and from Antarctica was by C-130 Hercules. However, the programme was carried out aboard the "Glacier", except that helos were used from the ship on two occasions (for ice surveillance and to set the sediment trap) and a Zodiac was used once (unsuccessfully).

The major difference between shipboard work and our traditional sea ice operation was in getting used to having so much assistance and so little time to think. We were fortunate in the first part of the cruise to share the ship with a team of USARP biologists so that we could work out a satisfactory scheme for recording navigation and find out the strengths and constraints of shipboard operation. McMurdo Sound is a small area for a ship that can, and on occasions did, steam at 12 knots. Also our team of three was small for an operation to utilise the ship fully 24 hours a day.

The chief problem was with navigation, as the printer for NAVSAT data was not working, and the data had to be recorded by hand. Also, because the ship's speed was manually entered into the system, the ship's location between fixes (which were obtained hourly on average) is subject to some error, but this will be reduced as we work on the track of the cruise with information from the ship's log. Nevertheless, these difficulties were far outweighed by the advantages of shipboard work which included:
1.An ability to sample throughout McMurdo Sound.
2.Continuous bathymetry.
3.Heavy duty hydrographic winch for deep water work.